Human
resource planning is the process whereby organizations determine the staffing
support they will need to meet business needs and customer demands. There are a
variety of considerations that impact this planning, including impending
retirements and transitions, the availability of employees with certain skills
sets and changes in the environment that may require training for existing
employees.
Need of HRP
Human
resource planning is important and ongoing because of both internal and
external environmental changes. Internally, businesses are impacted by turnover
and retirements. Externally, they are impacted by changes in technology,
changes in the economy, and changes in the industry and consumer demand that
may require skills that do not currently exist within the company. All of these
impacts have an effect on the type and numbers of employees that are needed for
the business to remain successful.
Phases of Planning
There
are four broad phases involved in planning for human resource needs. First,
gathering and analyzing information about expected demand based on the
business's future plans and the supply and availability of staff, internally
and externally, to meet these demands. Second, companies must identify their
specific human resource objectives, which can involve decisions related to
whether candidates will be promoted from within or hired externally, whether
work will be outsourced or done by employees on staff, and whether the company
prefers to staff for excess capacity or take a streamlined approach to
staffing. The third phase of planning involves designing and implementing
programs that are aligned with the company's objectives. These programs will
include benefit programs to satisfy employee needs and impact the ability to
retain staff, as well as training programs to ensure that staff are prepared to
meet current and future demands. Finally, the fourth phase of planning will
involve monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the human resource plan
and making changes as appropriate.
Forecasting Demand
An
important, yet challenging, element of human resource planning is forecasting
demand for certain types of skills and positions. For instance, in the early
21st century, Internet and social media skills were in increasing demand. In
the health care industry, nursing has long been an area of high demand. Each
industry is different and each is impacted by different factors. Staying on top
of industry, regulatory, governmental and economic changes can help businesses
improve their success at forecasting demand for employees and building the
human resource plan.
Succession Planning
Succession
planning is the process whereby company leaders and HR professionals identify
key positions within the company and develop plans to fill those positions
either with internal or external staff. Succession planning is closely tied to
leadership development, which is the process of providing training and
on-the-job experiences to prepare internal staff to step into positions that
may become vacant. Succession planning is a key element of human resource planning.
Future
The
late 20th and early 21st century saw a number of shifts that suggest changes in
the nature of work in the future. These include the growing use of contingent
workers (people who are hired, as needed, to perform specific tasks, but are
not employed by the company), the use of virtual workers (those who may or may
not work for the company but who are not physically located on the company's
premises), and the growing impact of technology on the need for certain types
of employees, which causes increased need in some areas and declined need in
others.
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